Code Quest - Official Rules

Official Rules

Please note: all rules are subject to change without notice. Please refer to this page frequently to have the latest changes.

Eligibility

Teams 

  • Lockheed Martin Code Quest is open to students in public, charter, or private, high schools, or of equivalent age/grade (for home schooled students).

  • Each team consists of 2- 3 students plus one coach. 

  • Students on the same team must be from the same school. (Exemption for home schools and case by case requests.)

  • In-person and virtual competition options available

    • Now accepting four (4) teams per school for the in-person event. 

      • Important: Coaches that are attending in-person cannot attend the virtual competition. There will be activities that coaches will participate in during the competition period and no cell phones are allowed at the in-person events.

    • Up to four (4) teams per school are allowed in the virtual event. 

  • Additional teams can be registered and will be waitlisted. 

  • Waitlisted registration will open on January 8, 2024 if capacity is available at event. 

  • A team should be affiliated with and represent the High School under which they are registering.

  • STEM programs are eligible to register a team 

    • A STEM program offers an interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizing the practical application of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

    • The STEM Program should be a recognized organization/club within the community and high school(s).  

    • STEM programs are eligible to register a team with students from different schools if the students’ school cannot form a team. 

Coaches

  • A coach can be a teacher. A parent can be a coach if the teacher is unable to attend. Coaches will serve as chaperones at the event and participate in activities during the competition. 

  • Only one coach per team is allowed.  A second coach may be allowed if required by the school. If a school has more than one team participating, one coach for multiple teams is acceptable, however, coaches that are associated with on-site teams can't work with the virtual teams.

Additional 

  • Food allergies cannot be accommodated, teams may bring their own breakfast and lunches.

  • Family members cannot be accommodated. 

  • UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are ANY cell phones, smart watches, e-readers, broad-band network cards or recording devices allowed inside Lockheed Martin facilities.  Please leave ALL phones in your cars.  Since cell phones will not be allowed in any building, we will provide a number where family and friends can reach you in case of emergency. If you are observed in possession of any of these devices, your team is subject to immediate disqualification.

Equipment – For In-Person event 

  • Each team is allowed to bring one laptop per team member to the competition unless otherwise stated on the site-specific pages.  

  • Printers are not allowed.

  • Very large monitors are discouraged (due to power consumption). See site-specific rules for more details. 

Development Software

  • Judging Software DOMJudge -- This doesn’t require you to install or run any special software on your computer; all you need is a web browser 

  • Java 1.8

  • Python 3.7 

  • C# 6.0

  • C++ 17 

  • No additional code and/or libraries can be used for the competition. You may only use what comes with Java, Python, C# and C++.

  • Students may bring the IDE they are most comfortable using, or may use the online IDE of their choice 

Programming Environment

  • If a student is checking out a laptop from the school, make sure the student has permissions to download or permissions to write to a folder. 

  • You will be provided with downloads for JDK 1.8, Javadoc for 1.8, Python 3.7, C# 8.0, C++ 17, Eclipse IDE.

General Format

  • Both the Novice and Advanced teams will share a common pool of 15 - 20 problems. 

  •  Recommendation for Novice level is all students on a team with 1 year or less of coding classes and/or competitions in the languages used (not cumulative) at Code Quest. If there is a student with more than 1-year experience in the coding languages being used, that team should register as Advanced. The coach can make the determination at what level their team will compete at depending on what language(s) the team will use at the competition. For clarifications or questions please contact code-quest.gr-aero@lmco.com.

  •  You have the ability to solve problems using either Java, Python, C#, C++ or Language selection is done per problem submission, meaning that you can switch freely between the languages during the competition. You do not have to pick one language and stick with it for the whole competition, or even for a particular problem. 

  • Each problem carries a point value, with values increasing with problem difficulty.

  • The goal is to earn as many points as possible in 2.5 hours. At the end, the teams with the most points win! 

Competition Rules/Guidelines

  • The judges' rulings are final. 

  • All solutions must programmatically determine the results. Your solution cannot print out a solution to a problem that you determined by hand. The judges will be using some different data sets for your programs at the judging table.

  • File naming conventions for solutions must be followed. 

  • Your team will have a number of programming tasks to choose from. You may not be able to solve them all, so you are advised to study them and choose your problems wisely.

  • Code Quest utilizes a custom client-server submission/judging/scoring system via an 802.11x wireless network. Please ensure that your computer is wireless-capable before the event day. If you can connect to a public wireless network (e.g. the public library or Panera) and browse the Internet, you should be in good shape. Some school computers have security lockdowns that prevent wireless configuration, so please verify this before you come. 

  • There is no limit to the number of submissions you can make to solve a problem. However, in the case of a tie score, the winners will be determined by the fewest incorrect submissions.

  • If a team's score from the novice division is higher than third place in the advanced level, that team will automatically be bumped to the advanced division at the conclusion of the competition. 

  • Verify that your program works with the example input before submitting it to the judges.

  • Each team may bring multiple textbooks and unlimited pages of notes (handwritten or typed) for each language used in the competition for reference. 

  • No pre-written code or e-readers are permitted.

  • Thumb drives may or may not be allowed based on site-specific rules and should be removed before the start of the competition.  

General

  • In-Person events - Trophies and medals will be awarded to the Top 3 teams in each category 

  • Virtual events – Trophies will be awarded to the Top 3 teams in each category

  • Additional rules, modifications, and information will be made available on the day of the event. 

  • Attendees will be photographed or videotaped for publicity purposes at the in-person events.

Encouraged and Forbidden Activities

We encourage you to enjoy and learn from the competition and to be positive and respectful to others.

During the competition, you agree to refrain from uploading any User Content that contains:

  • False or misleading information 

  • Malicious code, including without limitation: viruses, malware, spyware, or ransomware

  • Code deliberately intended to consume Website resources or deny the Website’s services to others (e.g., deliberate infinite loops, memory leaks, etc.)

  • Code that attempts to employ network communications for any purpose

  • Illegal content

  • Hate content, defamation, and libel

  • Intellectual property not owned by you

  • Promotions, advertisements, and other notices relating to third-party activities, including competitions and other activities hosted by third parties

  • Personal or third-party social media invitations, such as posting invitations or requests to be followed on Instagram®, Twitter®, Facebook® or other social media platforms

If you are found to have uploaded any User Content that falls into one or more of the above categories, your team may be subject to corrective actions, up to and including immediate disqualification without further warning.

 

Coaches Honor Code for Virtual Events

We would like to remind coaches that during the competition they should not confer with students to offer problem solving guidance or support. For those teams who will be competing physically together, we ask coaches and teachers to replicate the independent and fair competition environment we would have if the event were being held on site by leaving the competition space if possible. If not possible, we ask teachers to make a commitment to refrain from providing any support or guidance to teams during the competition. All coaches are invited to participate in a virtually hosted Coaches’ Corner while the students are competing. 

Additional rules, modifications, and information will be made available on the day of the event.

 

 

 

 

Questions, please contact code-quest.gr-aero@lmco.com

Code Quest 2024

2024 locations:

Aguadilla, PR 
Ampthill, UK 
Australia/Singapore/New Zealand  (Combined APAC Virtual Event)
Bethesda, MD  
Dallas, TX  
Denver, CO 
Fort Worth, TX  
Hanover, MD  
Havant, UK  
Huntsville, AL 
King of Prussia, PA 
Manassas, VA
Marietta, GA 
Mielec, PL  
Moorestown, NJ 
Orlando, FL 
Owego, NY 
Stratford, CT 
Sunnyvale, CA 
US  (Virtual. Event)

Contact Code Quest:
For additional information,
please email Code Quest at
code-quest.gr-aero@lmco.com